Fan safety guard attachment



p 1956 R. D. SELAH 2,763,428

FAN SAFETY GUARD ATTACHMENT Filed on. 1, 1954 IN VEN TOR.

Rnhzrr 11 Ezlah FAN SAFETY GUARD ATTACHMENT Robert D. Selah, Omaha, Nebr.

Application October 1, 1954, Serial No. 459,815

3 Claims. (Cl. 230-275) This invention relates to a fan safety guard attachment formed of mesh material and adapted to fit over the main guard usually present on fans of the smaller sizes commonly used in homes.

It is well known that fans are especially dangerous to small children and that many accidents occur each year in which fingers are cut off or other serious injuries result. The open fan is a constant danger when children are about, making it almost impossible for careful parents to be at ease. The constant attention that must be given is a burden, making it far more difficult for a mother to accomplish other tasks about the home.

I am aware that fan guards of the mesh type have been proposed heretofore, however, their constructions have been so expensive as to be sulficiently prohibitive that they have never come into general use. Another disadvantage of earlier mesh fan guard constructions has been in that fans made by different manufacturers vary in their external dimensions even between fans of the same ratings.

Consequently, it is an object of my invention to provide a fan guard of a construction such that it is adapted to fans of the same general size and rating, even though such fans are made by different manufacturers and have varying external main safety guards dimensions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mesh safety guard attachment which can be economically constructed from a single piece of mesh material.

Yet a further object is to provide an attachment as described which can be packaged when flat and which can be easily placed on a fan by the consumer.

Yet a further object is to provide an attachment as described in combination with elastic means for holding the mesh material in place on the main guard of a fan.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, drawings and claims, the scope of the invention not being limited to the drawings themselves as the drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating a way in which the principles of this invention can be applied.

Other embodiments of the invention utilizing the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a top plan view of a piece of material shown cut in the shape for uses of fan safety guard attachment, and provided with an edging.

Figure 2 is a frontal elevation of a fan with the attachment of Figure 1 placed over the mainvguard of the fan.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the fan of Figure 2 showing how the attachment covers the sides of the main guard.

Figure 4 is a rear elevation of the safety guard attachment and with a portion of the main safety guard of the fan shown in dotted lines, the motor and standard of the fan not being shown.

nited States PatentC Figure 5 is an enlarged view-in-section taken along the line 55 of Figure 4.

In Figure 2 a fan is generally indicated at 10, the fan being of the typemost commonly used in homes and provided with an approximately.cylindrical main guard frame generally indicated in dotted lines at 12. The blades of the fan are shown at 14.

Referring to Figure 1, the mesh safety guard attachment is there shown having a main portion generally indicated at 20 which is adapted to fit across the forward side of themain guard 12 of the fan.

A plurality of spaced apart outwardly extending projecting portions or side portions 24 are provided which latter are preferably integral with the main portion 20.

The main portion 20 of the attachment is preferably of a polygonal shape in outline and has many equal sides in a sense provided that each part of the main portion 20 which is disposed between the innermost ends 26 of a projecting portion 24 shall be considered a side of the main portion and also a base side of the respective projecting portion 24. It is preferable that the sides be eight in number whereby the main portion 26 is in the shape of an octagon although in another sense it is also approximately circular.

The projecting portions 24each have two sides 3% which are disposed inclining gradually towards each other whereby approximately V-shaped open spaces exist between the projections 24.

The sides 30 of each projection portion 24 are disposed transversely of the base of the. respective projecting portion 24.

Each projecting portion 24 preferably terminates in a straight outer edge 34 which latter are each at a tangent to the general circular outline of the mesh guard attachment.

In Figure 4 we see the fan guard attachment on the outside of the fan guard; The transition from Figure l to Figure 4 is accomplished by the process of folding the outwardly projecting portions about a semi-circular outer rim 16 of the main fan guard. In this manner it will be observed in Figure 4 that an outer surface 36 of the at tachment is formed, tangent to the outer rim 16 of the main guard and in semi-circular manner is conformed to the shape of the outer rim of the main guard. Vertices 22 of the octagon shape appear in Figures 2 and 4 as points, and likewise the Vertices appear in Figure 3 as lines. In all cases these Vertices are to be distinguished from the innermost end depicted at point 26 in Figure 1.

In the elevation of Figure 3, a profile of the outer surface 36 is shown. A conformity of the surfaces 36 to the outer rim 16 of the fan guard, with the Vertices 22 in straight lines, is to be seen.

The edges 30 of the outward projecting portions 24 are shown in Figure 4 and to a lesser extent in Figure 3, where in both instances they are overlapping. Due to approximate and only approximate radial disposition of the sides 30, the overlapping appears more evident as the outer edge 34 is approached.

In a process of shearing to produce a. basic shape as shown in Figure 1, there is a tendency for portions of wire to be projecting in a fringe along all sheared edges. Undue elfort would be required to eliminate this fringe. Therefore, the fringe is covered by cloth tape or other flexible material 38 being of U-shape in cross-section and being stitched or otherwise secured to the edge 3%] providing protection for the hands when handling the attachment. The edge binding as thus described is best illustrated in Figure 1.

Further securing means for holding the fan guard attachment are hooks 40. The hooks 40 are hooked into the outwardly projecting portions 24 near their outer edges 34 and further attached to an elastic annular member 42.

This annular member 42 is shown in double formation. Because of the nature of its continuous structure, the annular member may be used singly. In this manner the annular member would be placed over the fan base 43, over a motor 44 shown in Figure 3, and finally to the position of use. Because of the similarity of the double or single formation, as shown in the rear elevation, only the double formation has been shown.

The annular member 42 is elongated by stretching and oneend loop is attached to a hook 40. The annular member is then passed through the remaining hooks 40, forming an octagon configuration and the opposite end loop is attached to the original hook 40.

An enlarged detail of the hook 40 is shown in Figure 5.

When it is desired to detach the fan guard attachment from the fan guard, the annular member is removed. After this adjacent outer portions 24 are separated.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious that a fan safety guard attachment constructed in accordance with my invention is particularly well adapted for use, by reason of the convenience and facility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will also be obvious that my invention is susceptible of some change and modification without departing from the principles and spirit thereof, and for this reason I do not wish to fan guard, and means attachable to and extending between a plurality of said projecting portions for holding said projecting portions in positions extending across the back of the main guard and for holding said safety guard on said fan.

2. The safety guard of claim 1 in whch said holding means comprises an annular member of elastic material and a plurality of securing members attached to said elastic member and to said projecting portions respectively to hold the ends of said projecting portions inwardly against the rearward side of said main guard.

3. The construction defined in claim 1 in which said main portion is of approximately a polygonal shape in outline and has many linear sides of equal lengths, each I having two spaced apart sides disposed transversely to and be understood as limiting myself to the precise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carrying out my invention in practice, except as claimed.

I claim:

1. A safety guard assembly for use on a fan comprising a mesh fan safety guard attachment adapted to be placed around the main guard of a fan comprising a main portion adapted to fit across the forward side of the main guard and a plurality of spaced apart projecting portions attached to said main portion and extending therefrom on substantially all sides thereof, said projecting portions being of a length for extending around the outer sides and across much of the rearward side of the main adjoining and extending outwardly from the respective base side of the respective same projecting portion, the said two spaced apart sides of each projecting portion inclining gradually toward each other as they extend away from the respective base side whereby approximately V- shaped open spaces exist between said projecting portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 474,710 Wrigley May 10, 1892 692,404 Wright Feb. 4, 1902 914,413 Hoevet Mar. 9, 1909 1,114,459 Fritts Oct. 20, 1914 1,120,894 Bonham Dec. 15, 1914 1,228,853 Varley June 5, 1917 1,633,988 Jones June 28, 1927 1,751,793 Cook Mar. 25, 1930 2,036,478 Hoff et a1. Apr. 7, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 692,761 France Nov. 10. 1930 

